blood
by candycity
Summary: They always romanticise his eyes. Natsume-centric, with just a touch of NatsuMikan.


I'm sorry for spamming the GA archive but I just can't get enough of this couple ahaha. Enjoy!

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><p>He's five years old when his mother receives a call from the kindergarten: <em>I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid Natsume-kun will have to leave the school.<em>

"Why?" he hears his mother exclaim into the phone. "He's always done well, never misbehaved –"

A soft sigh comes from the other end. "I'm very sorry, but we've received many complaints from parents, saying that Natsume-kun scares the other children. We've thought about this a great deal, Mrs. Hyuuga, and I'm very sorry – we'll of course not charge for this month's fees, but if you could arrange for a transfer by the end of the week –"

_Click_. His mother puts down the phone. Natsume looks up at her with wide eyes, but she doesn't say a word.

**:.:**

The next day is his last day. Before he leaves, he goes up to a group of boys, who instantly shrink away.

"Why are you afraid of me?" he asks.

They hesitate. "Your eyes," one of them finally says, "they're like blood."

**:.:**

When he grows up, the comparisons change. The girls in his new school fuss over him, they call his eyes mysterious, intense, dazzling. They liken them to rubies: a deep, glistening, red.

The other characteristics of rubies go unsaid: _cold. Hard. Lifeless._

He never gives them the time of the day, and at one point, he even considers getting contact lenses. His mother laughs, she says,_ it's the inside that matters._

When he's nine, they partner up for an English assignment. "The eyes are the windows to the soul," the teacher says, "so I'd like you to describe three things you see from your partner's eyes. In English, please."

The children stand up, one by one._ Kind. Bored. Friendly. Distracted. Cheerful. Sad. Annoyed._

Her partner is a girl called Yui, rather pretty, very quiet. When she's called on, she stays silent for a while.

"Well, Yui-chan?" the teacher asks kindly. "What do you see in Natsume-kun's eyes?"

For a second, she doesn't say anything. Finally, she speaks.

"_Nothing_."

**:.:**

A week later, his sister sets the town on fire, and he is taken away to Alice Academy. On his last day of school, the only person he talks to is Yui.

"Thank you," he says, "for being honest."

She turns away and does not say a word.

**:.:**

At the Academy, once again, the comparisons change.

_"That boy – Natsume Hyuuga – yeah, that one, see him? He set his town on fire."_

"His eyes are like fire, too, that's so scary."

_"Yeah, that's his Alice, you know? D'you think he'd burn us?"_

Ruka is the only one by his side. "Well," he says, as lightheartedly as he can, "that's not what Shouda thinks. She's telling everyone who'll listen how your eyes are the colour of _hearts_."

Natsume almost chokes on his orange juice. "_What_?"

Ruka smirks, and begins to hum something that sounds suspiciously like the wedding march, to which Natsume responds by pushing him off his chair.

"Ouch! _Dammit_, _Natsu_ –"

"Nogi! What do you think you're doing?"

"…Nothing, sir."

**:.:**

Mikan Sakura arrives and she is the antithesis of Natsume Hyuuga: she is all light colours and softness and smiles, and he is the harshness of deep red and jet black, cold and hard and angry.

And yet, the first time she sees him, her expression changes to one of annoyance, and she points at him, her voice shrill and her words furious, and it takes all his self-control to keep his expression blank.

Even when she's levitated into the air, even when she's sent to the Northern Woods, even when she plays dodgeball against an army of Alice-wielders: that stupid girl knows no fear.

_Aren't you afraid?_ he wants to scream. _What's wrong with you?_

At some point, she begins turning up at his Sakura tree and making mindless conversation. Naturally, he's irritated, and he tries every means he can think of to scare her off: he insults her. He sets fire to her pigtails. He calls her stupid, useless, annoying.

Eventually, he gives in.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" he finally asks the question he's been keeping back for so long. She blinks.

"No, why would I be?" He rolls his eyes and scoffs, because this girl obviously has a screw loose somewhere. Suddenly, he realises that she hasn't said a word about his eyes.

_It's the inside that matters,_ he hears his mother say in his mind. That time, he didn't have the heart to tell her, _there's nothing on the inside, either._

"Hey, Polka Dots," he says randomly, "What do you think of my eyes?"

Her face screws up as she thinks hard. And then she smiles. "Poppies," she says decisively.

He blinks.

And then he bursts into laughter.

:.:

"Poppies, _really_, Polka Dots?"

"_You asked me what I thought!"_

He rolls his eyes, but secretly, he thinks that of all the comparisons people have made about his eyes, this is by far his favourite.

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><p>Please do review, it takes only five seconds (: It's quite discouraging when I don't get any feedback, so I'd really appreciate a line or two!<p>

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed this! Also, if you liked this, please do check out my other GA fics ^.^


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